Defiance at the Crossroads
by MaraudersChosenNerD
Summary: Lily and James have managed to be good friends since sixth year. But now that they both are Head students and Dark Forces are attempting to take away everything they hold dear, how will they manage to defy these forces and come together?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: The characters, back ground story and anything else you recognise belongs to Rowling.**

_A/N: This may come as a surprise to those who are already following ths story. But I felt I had to redo the chapters and edit the storyline a bit since I realized they were too unevenly paced. I don't know how many of you are reading out there, so to the ones who have already read this, I can promise you that this version is far better than the earlier one. And to the new readers, I hope you enjoy the read. Do read and review._

Walking across King's Cross with her parents, making her way to Platform nine and three quarters, Lily was gripped by a wave of nostalgia. It was the last time she would be doing this, the last ime she would be boarding the Hogwarts Express on September 1st.

Everything seemed different to the same day seven years ago. 7 years ago she had been a small girl, holding hands with Severus, as they walked together towards the platform, Lily skitterishly nervous and her companion excited at finally being able to attend Hogwarts. She still remembered that day, when Petunia was morosely lagging behind her parents, bitter and jealous at not being able to go to Hogwarts. Well, Lily mused, some things never do change. It was still bitterness and jealousy that shaped Petunia's behaviour towards her. Lily blew out a large breath. Some things would never change, even with magic. Especially with magic.

Regardless, it still amazed her how much her life had changed since she had stepped into the Magical World. Seven years ago, when she had stepped into the wayward platform she had been a eleven year old muggleborn, excited about a whole new world of possibilities that she could explore with her best friend. She had read about it all and was itching to physically step into this fantasy world. The Wizarding World was everything she had expected it to be and more. Stone castles, forbidden forests, Giant Squids, great lakes, ugly mermaids, confusing centaurs, trick walls, friendly ghosts, wonderful friends and not to mention maniacs obssessed with blood purity and power. All this package, of course meant that she could still regale the two people walking beside her, William and Elizabeth Evans with the quirky stories about Hogwarts.

She turned to hug both of them and William Evans kissed his youngest daughter on the forehead before pulling back. "Bye Mum, bye Dad", she whispered. Her Mum patted her cheek one last time before they bid their farewells until Christmas. "Bye Honey, make sure you write every now and then".

She nodded and turned towards the platform. Waving back to her parents for the last time, she squared her shoulders and made her way through the barrier to platform 9 and 3/4, pushing her trolley. Squaring her shoulders she walked forward, searching for a glimpse of one of her friends.

She saw many familiar faces as she walked across the Platform, towards the train, but none that she was actually looking for. She was already tired of nodding and waving to her schoolmates by the time she caught sight of Remus Lupin, about to board the train himself.

Lily shouted over the din, so he could hear her "Oi Lupin". Remus turned around and smiled when he saw the red-head. He finished loading his trunk and waited for her as she dragged her trolley toward the luggage compartment. They hugged briefly, when she reached him. As they began loading her trunk Lily thought that given his conditon, Remus looked rather well at the moment, thoguh appearances can be deceptive. "Of course I look well Lily. Why would I not?" asked Remus with a slight smirk, though he looked slightly put off at her remark. Lily blushed slightly as she realised that she had unwittingly spoken out her thoughts. Avoiding his eyes she hastily asked "To the Prefect's compartment then?" "Isn't it a bit early? The train hasn't even started yet."

Pinning the Head Girl batch to her sweater Lily spoke "Well yes, but I thought as Head Girl I should go early and be ready for the meeting. And you as Head Boy should accompany me." she added smirking. Looking at her sideways Remus spoke quietly "I am not Head Boy. Don't you think I would have written to you if I had been chosen. Speaking of writing how come you haven't written this summer? You know I can't start correspondence since I don't have an owl."

Remus's question brought to the forefront of her mind the three horrible months of summer she had had to endure altermatitng between Cokeworth and Surrey. "Don't get me started on that topic, Remus. This summer has been an absolute nightmare. My sister is getting married during Christmas, so there's been a lot of bonding between the two families. With Vernon's family coming over so frequently, I couldn't risk keeping Carrie at the house. So I sent her off to Dorcas with a note." she fumed before adding "And what do you mean you are not Head Boy? It can't be anyone else. You are the best candidate among the seventh year prefects. OK I agree that you are a bit of a mischief maker, but you manage to wriggle yourself before the lot of you are caught. And you are slightly unsuccessful in reining in those morons you call call friends, but come on no one has been successful with penetrating their thick skulls with the language of rules. So they can't hold that against you -"

Remus stopped her mid rant as they boarded the train "I can't figure out whether you are praising me or criticizing me. I am not the Head Boy, and all you can do about it is deal with it. So there. Anyway its not like the other prefects don't make good prospects. You get on well with Benjy so you could figure out a pretty good working shcedule with him. Dearbon is a pretty amicable bloke too. And then you have - " Remus trailed off as he spoke of the Slytherin prefect, with a dark look crossing his face.

"And then we have our very own Severus Snape' muttered Lily darkly, desparately hoping that it wasn't Severus. She didn't think she could handle working with him so closely after their fallout. Glancing at her sour face Remus however chuckled "Chill Lily, its not Snape." "Oh, then Benjy or Caradoc it is then. But how do you know it isn't Snape?' Glancing at Remus as they waded through the crowd in the now moving train, Lily found that he had a very mischievious look about his face. Just as she was about to enquire about the cheshire grin spreading across his lips and uttered "I just know. I am a Marauder remember, I have my ways. Don't get your hopes up, though. It's neither Benjy nor Caradoc." he halted the question bubbling at her lips with a raised hand and patient smile and said "Its James."

For a moment Lily was taken aback, shocked even. But then she burst out laughing, earning looks from her fellow students "Good one, Remus. You almost got me with that one. But I would categorize your comment as more of a horror story than a joke." Remus just shrugged, muttering "Suit yourself."

As they reached the Prefect's compartment Remus stepped forward to open the door with a smirk on his face. And to Lily's utter shock it was indeed James Potter who was sitting on the seat with the Head Boy badge pinned to his shirt. "OK enough of this joke. From whom did you take the badge Potter? This waiting in the dark is killing me. Out with it" she asked looking at both the boys.

"Hate to break it to you, Evans, but it really is mine" he said with a nervous smile and produced a letter out of his pocket to her. When she scanned the letter, it had the same content as hers, except for the name 'Mr J. Potter'.

She looked up from the letter and glanced around the room for Remus, but found that he had discreetly gone out and closed the door behind him. After a moment of silence Lily burst out "This isn't fair. The bet certainly wasn't fair. You lied Potter. This is downright cheating."

"Calm down Evans, its just a Potions project. Not a big deal. Not like you have to give me your galleons." "Its not about the Potions project Potter, but about the principle of the matter. Its not done. I refuse to cede that you won."

"A bet's a bet, I'm afraid. Nothing to be done about it. Uphold the principle Evans. Atleast one of us should do it." he said smirking slightly. However, before she could respond, the door of the compartment slid open and Lily uttered a 'finally' under her breath as she saw who the intruders were, and instantly her expression shifted from a slight scowl to a bright smile. Within seconds she had marched forward and threw her arms around two of her best friends Janet Davies and Emily Macmillan who were accompanied by Remus Lupin and Benjy Fenwick.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: The characters, back ground story and anything else you recognize belongs to Rowling.**

_**A/N:** This may come as a surprise to those who are already following ths story. But I felt I had to redo the chapters and edit the storyline a bit since I realized they were too unevenly paced. I don't know how many of you are reading out there, so to the ones who have already read this, I can promise you that this version is far better than the earlier one. I would reccommend reading from the first chapter again. And to the new readers, I hope you enjoy the read. Do read and review._

"Congratulations Lily, I knew you would get it." Emily said as she pulled back from the hug. Lily grinned and said "Thanks". "I would rather wish you luck Lily, especially since you need to work with this one here" Janet said grinning at James. Emily smirked. Lily scowled. Judging by the unsurprised look on both Janet and Emily's faces it seemed that both of them had known know about James's Head Boy-ship before they entered the compartment. "How'd both of you know?" she asked.

"You mean apart from the fact that you can see the badge glinting on his shirt?" Janet replied. Lily reasoned "It might have been a prank, you know" but looking at James's frown she added to him "Oh come off it Potter, you've got to admit it, given your record its not entirely an implausible theory." He chose not to reply but Emily spoke "We knew of his appointment as Head Boy long before today as a matter of fact. He sent an owl to Janet when she and Dorcas were staying over at my place during the holidays." Lily let out an indignant noise "And you never thought to inform me of this, er, well, development?"

"We would have Lily, but you forbade us from sending you any owls during the summer and we didn't want you to get in trouble with your sister, so we let it go." Lily would have retorted but she could hear noises approaching the compartment and she knew other prefects were beginning to arrive so she let the matter rest.

After a few minutes all the prefects had arrived and the introductions were done. There were a few raised eyebrows at James's introduction but thankfully, no one commented on the fact. Not for lacking of trying though. Lily might herself have been a little skeptical at his appointment and judged him for his previous record, but that didn't mean she would tolerate her fellow prefects show any disrespect to her Co-Head. Soon the prefects were given their list of duties and the next date of the next meeting which was scheduled for the evening of the next day and were dismissed. The Head Boy, Head Girl and their friends were the last to leave the compartment and all of them headed to the middle of the train led by Benjy and Remus, where Lily was told that the others were sitting.

Lily followed them as was tradition since fifth year, when Lily, Emily and Janet had been made the Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw prefects respectively. Dorcas sat with three quarters of the Marauders, until Remus, Lily, Emily and Janet returned. After the meeting however, Remus would replace Dorcas in the Marauders compartment and she joined her friends in another compartment.

But soon Lily discovered that not everything was to remain like before as Emily announced that after popping in to say hello to the Gryffindors in the compartment, she would be sitting with Leo Ackerley and his mates for the rest of the ride. This was followed by Janet informing them that she too was sitting with the Ravenclaw Quidditch team, as their new captain Greta Catchlove had written to them about some bonding session for the team on the train. James snorted at that and Lily was reminded that he was also the Gryffindor Quidditch team Captain for the third year running. She briefly wondered how he would balance both the duties but they entered the compartment at the time and everything else was put on a standstill as everyone greeted each other.

Once everyone had settled (and others had left) Dorcas told her about the holidays she spent with Emily and Janet, the boys entertained themselves with a tournament of Exploding Snap. But after the eleventh time that the cards blew out in James's face, he put his foot down and vanished the cards before his friends could even utter a word, all the while muttering things like "didn't even ask for it" "not like I had anything to do with" "hand it back" "Remus didn't get pranked so much". But his sour mood didn't continue for long as soon everyone struck up a conversation about this and that.

But Lily soon became distracted from the talk as it turned to technical Quidditch and buried herself in a book called '_Upcoming Careers for the Modern Witch_'. She didn't even realize she had fallen asleep halfway through the chapter '_Why a witch would make a better Potioneer' _ until Remus woke her up shaking her shoulders and telling her that it was time for her patrol along the train. She stood up and stretched herself, turning to look expectantly at James and Remus "With which one of you am I patrolling?".

Both of them looked sheepish as they informed her that they had done the patrols together with the seventh year Ravenclaw prefects and that it was her turn to patrol along with the Slytherin seventh years. From the corner of her eye, Lily notice that Dorcas sat up a little straighter at the mention of Slytherin seventh years. Lily pursed her lips at Dorcas. Misinterpreting her pursed lips about the patrols James spoke "Sorry Evans, but since we haven't yet worked out a solution for the odd number of prefects owing to my appointment, one of us has to do it alone until the patrol roaster is finalized. Since you were asleep at that time, I went with Remus. But if you want I can come with you once again."

Lily waved off his apology and the suggestion "No, that's fine Potter. I'll do it alone. Don't bother yourself. Not such a big deal, its only half an hour." Dorcas looked at her impassively and asked resignedly, as though already knowing the answer but still hoping for a different one "Do you want me to come with you?" Lily scowled "I can do it alone Dorcas." Dorcas sighed and added "Fine then. But at least take your school robes and change into them. We'll be at Hogwarts in under an hour." Lily nodded and fetched her robes before walking out.

Soon after patrols Lily saw that they were nearing the Hogsmeade station. And as the train screeched to a halt, Lily felt the familiar exhilaration of returning to Hogwarts. Unloading her trunk and waving to Hagrid who was guiding first years to the boats, Lily hunted for a suitable carriage pulled by the invisible thestrals. Spotting her friends, she quickly clambered onto one with Sirius, Emily and Leo in it. Within a few minutes of the carriage ride, during which Leo told them about the history of Witch burnings in Italy, where he had been for vacation during the summer, they came to a halt in front of the imposing Castle Gates and were soon inside the Great Hall, sitting at their house tables.

After a sumptuous Welcoming Feast, Lily found herself outside the Great Hall waiting for James Potter to arrive so that they could visit the Headmaster. Fortunately she did not have to wait long as he came bounding outside within a few seconds. Making their way across the throng of students being guided to their houses by their prefects they soon reached Dumbledore's office (of course by using a few secret passages, courtesy of a particular authoritarian Marauder). Giving the password 'Ice Mice' both of them stepped on the spiral staircase as the gargoyles stepped aside. After knocking, both of them stepped inside the Headmaster's office once they were told to enter,.

Lily had never been to inside Dumbledore's office before, and once inside it, she felt a bit out of her league as she saw the number of weird instruments placed around the office and the many number of the portraits mounted on the walls. As she continued to look a little perplexed, James gave her a nudge and whispered in her ear "Previous Headmasters". Crossing the room, she turned to look at him and found he looked utterly at ease with the office. Then she remembered that he was Marauder and had probably been summoned here many times for disciplining purposes. The thought made her want to laugh.

However keeping a composed face, she took her proffered seat beside James and looked expectantly at Dumbledore. With a twinkling gleam in his eyes he spoke "Firstly congratulations to both of you for your appointment Mr Potter, Miss Evans. Miss Evans, you have been an easy pick for the post and the same can be said for Mr Potter, though he is an unconventional choice. That being said I would like to add that these are difficult times as both of you might well be aware, and there a lot of expectations from both of you for the year ahead. There is a lot at stake and I trust you wont let us down." Lily nodded and saw James doing the same, though, she noticed, his cheeks were a little pink.

Dumbledore continued "What I am going to say is very important and unfortunately cannot not be left unsaid, however much I wished otherwise. As both of you are aware we are hanging precariously on the edge of a war. You are also aware of a group of students in the castle who would like nothing better than to join the war on the wrong side -"

"The Slytherins. You are talking about the Slytherins, aren't you?"

"Mister Potter, it would be unwise to brand all the students of a house because of its mistaken identity and history. Wouldn't it, Miss Evans?"

Lily ignored the question asked to her, instead posing one of her own to the grave-looking Headmaster "Professor, do you mean to say that there are students in the castle aspiring to be Death Eaters? "

" Unfortunately I cannot be sure of that. They may simply support the cause, or aspire to be branded by the Dark Mark. But in any case, if you notice any suspicious behavior by any student in the castle, regardless of their house affiliations I urge you to not take matters into your own hands, but report to me. Because even being as knowledgeable as you are, you underestimate the clutches of Lord Voldemort. Just keep a vigilant eye on things."

Dumbledore then went on to explain in detail all the duties they were expected to perform. At the end of the discussion Dumbledore dismissed them "You may leave now, I am sure your friends are waiting for you. But before leaving for your dormitories, Lily would you please show James the Heads' office on the fourth floor. The password is 'Felix Felicis'. Goodnight James, Lily." "Goodnight Professor."

Once outside the office, they walked in silence, until they reached their private office. They gave the password to the portrait of a knight and went inside. They entered what was a miniature version of their common room, though in neutral colors. With a couch in the center and a coffee table in front of it as well as worktables for both of them on either side of the room the office looked like a pretty comfortable place for them to work in. Once he had seen the room Lily explained to him that both of them could work here in privacy and that this was where Prefects' meeting was held. "But then if the meeting is held here, then the nosy little buggers know the password and can barge in here anytime, can't they?" argued James. "That's not an issue. We have the authority to change password for this room, so we can change it after every meeting." Then in a scandalized voice she continued "And don't call the prefects nosy little buggers. You are one among them now." "Oh yeah. Fine. Whatever. I reckon its time we went to bed, don't you?"

"You are going to sleep so early Potter? No mischief planned for the night with the boys?"

"Of course not, Evans. That would make me a sloppy Head Boy. And I'm all for meeting expectations. Even surpass them. Besides I need my beauty sleep, you see. I wouldn't want you depressed about having to work with an ugly and sloppy Co-Head. Not to mention my fellow classmates who depend on my handsome face to light up the otherwise dull classroom."

"I thought that was Sirius's job. Since when did you take charge ?" Lily asked raising her eyebrows and smiling slightly.

"Somewhere during the middle of sixth year. You have just been too enamored with the Giant Squid to notice the transition. Shame you two couldn't make it work. But regardless of your break up with the beast, you need to keep up with the times Evans. Being the Head Girl and all."

"Oh yeah, right. Totally my fault Potter." she replied, laughing at his jab at the Giant Squid "Peppermint" they said to the Fat Lady and clambered inside the portrait hole as she swung open. They walked over to the corner where the Marauders were sitting with the rest of the Quidditch Team. Lily perched herself on the armrest of Remus's chair and saw that '_Advanced guide to Arithmancy_' lay forgotten in his lap as he sat discussing Quidditch tactics. Looking at all their expressions it seemed to Lily that they were going to be sitting here for a while as James had just arrived and all of them seemed eager to share their opinions with him. Deciding that she would only be volunteering for a headache if she remained for much longer, Lily stood up to announce that she was leaving. She might as well be invisible for all the notice they took of her, immersed as they were in the world of Quidditch. Throwing them an amused look, which once again went unnoticed, she made her way to the dormitory.

Once inside, Lily set about organizing her various books. She conjured a bookshelf in the corner of the room. With Mary withdrawing out of school after fifth year, it wasn't like they didn't have space in their dormitory and Lily thought she might as well put the extra space to good use. After arranging all her books on the shelf, Lily picked out a few of them and placed them on her bedside table thinking she could use a few midnight reading sessions on sleepless nights. Just as she made herself comfortable on her bed, the dormitory door creaked open to let Dorcas in. She looked done-in. She stumbled inside looking sleepy and fell on the bed. Slamming her hangings shut she mumbled a "Goodnight" and dozed off.

And soon Lily too fell asleep, wondering how her last year at Hogwarts would progress.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: The characters, back ground story and anything else you recognise belongs to Rowling.**

_**A/N:** This may come as a surprise to those who are already following ths story. But I felt I had to redo the chapters and edit the storyline a bit since I realized they were too unevenly paced. I don't know how many of you are reading out there, so to the ones who have already read this, I can promise you that this version is far better than the earlier one. I would reccommend reading from the first chapter again. And to the new readers, I hope you enjoy the read. Do read and review._

The first two weeks at school passed rather quickly with hardly anything more eventful than the usual classes – with teachers drilling them about the importance of the approaching N.E. and giving them hordes of homework under the same pretense, and the sole Prefect's meeting held in the Heads Common Room.

The monotonous routine gave Lily ample time to reflect on what Dumbledore had told them. She knew there were quite a few sympathizers with the pureblood agenda at Hogwarts. She even knew some of them personally. One of them _had _even been her best friend. She had assumed they would support Voldemort's regime. But she was wrong. She now knew for a fact that some of them intended to be Death Eaters at this young age.

She had read about their criminal acts in the Daily Prophet. Reading some of their offenses was enough to make her nauseous. Brutal murders, physical assaults, mental abuse and torture were just some of the horrors associated with the Death Eaters. And the thought that some of her classmates would be a part of _that_, made her shudder. She wondered what Snape's stand on the matter was. Was he merely a supporter or was he aspiring to be more? Would it be he or one of their classmates who killed her for the hideous cause of blood purity? If there were indeed Death Eaters in the castle, how many of her classmates would fight for the right side? And there were even more pressing concerns, concerns about herself and her family. Would she survive the war, given the rising tide of Death Eaters and her vulnerable position? Would her family come out unscathed? Could she keep them out of this emerging war?

Her mind was swirling with never-ending questions none of which had concrete answers. The only time her mind was empty of the worrying distractions were when she was doing schoolwork or completing Head duties. She wondered whether James too was as affected as her by Dumbledore's warning.

She soon discovered that she needn't have wondered for long. Because soon it turned out that James too had concerns, but not necessarily of the war.

It was only when James and Sirius were conspicuously absent from all the morning classes as well as lunch on Friday, the Sixteenth of September that Lily began to suspect something. She had been considering the possibility of a big prank, but ruled it out as soon as she caught sight of Remus' drawn face at the Gryffindor table with an equally glum looking Peter Pettigrew beside him. Still wondering at her classmates' absence Lily made her way towards Dorcas who incidentally had chosen to sit with the two seventh year Marauders.

"When will they come back?" she heard Dorcas asking as she approached them. "I suppose they'll stay for a while and come back on Sunday evening. Its the weekend after all" was what Remus muttered in reply. Taking a seat beside Dorcas and nodding to Remus and Peter, Lily asked "Returning from where? And why are they going to be away from the castle for so long? Wait, you guys _are_ talking about James and Sirius aren't you?"

"Yes we are talking about them as a matter of fact. They have gone home, you see, for Mr Potter's funeral tomorrow." was what Peter told her.

Whatever Lily was expecting to hear, it certainly wasn't that. She was taken aback to say the least. "Mr Potter's funeral? You don't mean to say James' father passed away, do you? It must be an elderly uncle or something?"she asked. Remus sighed, "Actually it _was_ James' dad who died. That is why even Sirius went. Mrs Potter wrote in her letter that 'she'd be damned if she let on of her sons miss Charlus' funeral'. Can't blame her really. The Potters are more of a family to him than the Blacks have ever been."

"Why didn't you two go then? I had the impression that even you two were quite close to the Potter family." Dorcas asked in confusion.

Remus answered in a weary voice "I wanted to, but I don't think I am up to it though. I've been feeling a bit peaky lately, and Peter said he'd stay with me so that I didn't have to stay alone." Just then the bell ran signaling the end of the lunch break and they stood to leave for Potions. Emily and Janet were waiting for them at the entrance. The Gryffindors filled them in on their conversation during lunch and it was a subdued group which headed to Potions after hearing about the death of Charlus Potter. They dropped off Peter in the library on their way to dungeons, since he had a free hour now, and headed to Potions after which all of them had Herbology, the last class of the day.

After finishing Herbology, the girls agreed to meet in an abandoned classroom at the fifth floor corridor near the North Tower after supper for 'studying'. They asked if Remus and Peter – who had joined them for Herbology, would like to come, but they declined.

The four girls knew that they would hardly touch their books today, preferring to enjoy the evening where all four of them could sit together and talk, as had been their custom for years. Being in different houses, it wasn't everyday that they got to sit together and chat for long. But when they did, it was more than worth foregoing the study session.

As they walked back to the castle from the greenhouses, thinking about customs, age-old friendships and what not, Lily reminisced the day their friendship had begun.

_It had been the second week of First Year and Lily was walking from History of Magic to Herbology, with Severus and that polite Hufflepuff girl in her year, whose name she thought was Emily Macmillan. Even as she glance at him out of the corner of her eye, Lily knew Severus didn't want Emily to be there and could tell he felt uncomfortable in her presence. But for once she ignored his discomfort. It wasn't like he would stay with them for long anyway, he had Potions with the Ravenclaws now and would go round the corridor to the dungeons. She could head to the greenhouses outside with Emily and Dorcas._

_But just as they were nearing the corridor they heard the fifth year Slytherin Prefect, Lucius Malfoy "Severus, is that Lily Evans you are hanging around with, again" he paused to frown "I thought I told you not to associate with muggleborns if you could help it." He seemed to be pretending as though Lily wasn't standing in the corridor itself, least of all, beside Severus._

_Lily had been furious on hearing Malfoy, but she kept her temper, reminding herself that the prat of a Slytherin fifth-year was a Prefect. She glanced at Severus who had gone pale at the sight of his housemate. She was about to answer for him when he yelped a small 'Shut up' to her, and she held her tongue. However the same could not be said about Emily who spoke up "So what if she is a muggleborn? She is still a witch, isn't she? You have no authority to dictate whether Snape associates with Lily or not."_

_Malfoy merely smirked down at the Hufflepuff girl and sneered "Defending your friend, are you? Loyal of you Macmillan."_

_He then proceeded to put an arm around Severus, pulling him along with him saying "If you want any of those high aspirations of yours to turn into reality Severus, I would advise you to stop hanging around with riff-raff like that. Filthy blood-sullying..." Lily couldn't hear the rest of the sentence as the Slytherins rounded the corner, but she didn't want to. She had already seen Severus walk away without a glance in her direction, not even bothering to defend her. And he was supposed to be her best friend?_

_She, however heard Dorcas and Janet - who had been talking about Quidditch a few paces behind them- catch up to them, as Dorcas told Lily to calm down and Emily patted her back, attempting to soothe her. But what really calmed her nerves was Janet wisely saying "You have to get rid of that tomato-face of yours" at others confused expression she elaborated " The one you make when you are furious, I mean the one you have now. I mean your face is as red as you hair. You should put that energy and temper of yours to good use. Show them you're worth it. That you are a witch, and a proud Gryffindor. That _you don't_ care about '_riff-raff_' like that and that _you _will '_associate_' with who so ever you please." As she finished her voice had taken on a fierce tone, and her eyes had a glint in them that looked odd for an eleven year old._

_Though Lily had been slightly awed and refreshed by Janet's words, Janet herself seemed surprised at the the fact that she had spoke so passionately about something. She sheepishly opened her mouth once again"Um, I am sorry if I came out a bit strong on you. I don't usually speak like, er" she fumbled for a word, but finally settled for "Um, like _that. _But you see, my mum is a muggleborn and my parents have always been against these kinds of discrimination and taught me the same. So, er, yeah..." she trailed off, as Lily gave her a beaming smile and spoke for the first time "Thanks though, I needed to hear that from someone who was not Severus, and not in Gryffindor."_

"_Um, your welcome, I suppose. Hey, how about all four us meet near the lake at lunch hour today? That is, if it doesn't rain today." _

_That day, when the four girls had gathered by the lake, Lily came to know that Dorcas and Emily had been childhood friends. That Emily and Janet were partners in Transfiguration class, and had been walking out of said class together, when Emily had spotted Dorcas, called to her and even proceeded to introduce her to Janet. That Dorcas and Janet had immediately bonded over Quidditch, leading to a heated discussion about league teams – 'like crazed eleven-year old _boys_, fawning over Quidditch' Emily had muttered – and that Emily, bored out of her mind by the technicalities, had been glad to approach Lily and talk to her about other things. And that was when their friendship had begun._

_Two Gryffindors – one a red haired firecracker, another a black and bushy-haired Quidditch maniac – one polite, soft spoken, blond Hufflepuff and lastly a raven haired Ravenclaw obsessed with sports._

And now here they were, six years later. The same four girls.

Lily Evans, Muggleborn Gryffindor, a redhead with sparkling green eyes and a temper that could make her face – adorned with freckles – go as red as a her hair. Wonderfully sweet and outgoing except when seething in her formidable temper, top of class, charms enthusiast, hardcore potioneer, and in love with the library and its books. She could easily trounce anyone in a battle of wits – or spells – master a Protean Charm for Flitwick or brew the perfect Felix Felicis Slughorn had seen in years. Not to mention that she was also the Head Girl.

Dorcas Meadowes with her jet black, bushy hair and warm brown-colored eyes, madly passionate about Quidditch, held the position of the seeker on the Gryffindor team. She was surprisingly full of energy, for someone with such a slender and small stature. Out of all four of them, Dorcas was the only one who wasn't a Prefect, and she spent hours with Remus and Peter on boring weekends, trying to look for loopholes in the Hogwarts' Rule Book. The sneaky Gryffindor Seeker said she would rather rely on her on ingenuity and knowledge than be corrupted by nepotism from her best friends.

Emily Macmillan, the soft spoken, polite girl from Hufflepuff, with a heart shaped face and blond hair. Loyal, fair and hardworking. She was everything you would expect a Hufflepuff to be. A sticker for rules, she was even more apathetic to sports than. That was in direct contradiction to her boyfriend, Leo Ackerley, who was the Hufflepuff Quidditch Captain. She was the first one Lily went to if she was in doubt regarding the complexities of the Wizarding World. Coming from an old line of pure-bloods, there was nothing Emily did not know about the traditions of the Magical community.

And Janet Davies. An avid reader, a top notch student, with a thirst for knowledge and an undeniably witty and sarcastic tongue. She was geeky alright, a sports geek. It was funny how she could be that nerdy Ravenclaw – with her long black hair pulled into a braid, all her concentration into the text in front of her – one minute, and the next she would be debating Quidditch with Dorcas or figuring out new techniques to play Exploding Snap or Gobstones with Sirius and Peter.

After stepping into the classroom, the four girls exhausted every topic of conversation before the topic inevitably turned to James. Lily too threw her two cents in the conversation " Poor James. The whole castle's heard – Dorcas will you quit looking at me crazy. You've been doing that all day!"

Dorcas was still looking at her in a weird, as though trying to read her mind by looking at her face. "Bother telling us what's going through that head of yours Meadowes?"

"Bother telling us when _you _switched from referring to the Head Boy with a cold 'Potter' to a concerned 'James' Miss Evans?" Dorcas shot back.

"What are you talking ab–"

That was when Emily cut her off with her loud musings "Now that I come to think of it, I haven't even heard about any spat between both of you." Dorcas scoffed "I live with them, for Merlin's sake and I have hardly had the pleasure of witnessing one row between them. I have been waiting since September 1st, mind you, for her to rant about how 'Potter' isn't fit to be the Head Boy or something along those lines. But all I get is boring lectures about the Fidelius Charm and some Lucky Potion called the Felix Felicis. I thought she was just trying to be patient about him or Remus must be be guiding him well, or may be she was ranting about him to Remus. But no. It seems Lily has changed her mind about James Potter."

"Come off it Dorcas, you are making it out to be a far deal more dramatic and important than it is."

Janet finally broke her silence and said "Please Lily, James was the only one who had the ability to turn you from a goody-goody, polite Prefect to a shrieking banshee with her head on fire. Now that you both are being civil to each other, you can't expect us to ignore it."

"But that was two years ago. We were civil to each other last year." Lily mumbled. "Yeah you were, that was because you hardly crossed paths last year. You didn't scream your head off at _him_. We were the ones who had to sit through rants about 'immature, pig-headed Potter'. And then two months of summer later we have Lily 'James is such a cooperative Head' Evans with us." huffed Emily.

When Lily did nothing other than sigh silently, Janet whined "What aren't you telling us Lily?"

"I spent a day with James and Sirius in Diagon Alley in August, and ended up making a silly bet with them."

"_You_ made a bet?"

"You spent a whole day willingly with James and Sirius in Diagon Alley?"

"What bet?"

"I went to Diagon Alley the day after I returned from the wedding in Devon. Petunia was sulking about her wedding, the flower arrangements and the menu. She wanted to go over to the Dursleys' to discuss the venue and what-not, with mum. I refused to accompany them, just to be surrounded by those horrible canines of Marjorie Dursley, and Petunia was more than happy to oblige." Janet interrupted "I take it you are not the bride's maid then?" "Of course not, I am actually surprised to be included in the wedding party. Anyway I was alone at home, so I wrote a note to Mum that I would be back by evening and apparated to the Leaky Cauldron. I finished all my shopping by noon and was just coming out of Magical Menagerie, wondering how to spend the rest of the day when I met those two."

"_Oi Evans. Join us, why don't you?" Lily turned to see Sirius Black seated at one of the tables at __Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor with James Potter, beckoning to her. She hesitated, but made her way towards them anyway and took her seat beside Black. They looked a little surprised that she had actually accepted their informal invitation. "Hi" she said._

"_So, what brings Miss Prefect to Diagon Alley alone, ditched your folks for books?" Black asked looking at the two bags of books beside her._

_Lily smirked a bit and corrected "Its Head Girl to you now Black." Potter and Black instantly straightened at the mention of Head Girl. "Did you hear that Prongs, we guessed right, Evans is the Head Girl" he looked at Lily once again "Excited about working with the Head Boy, Lily?" "I suppose, but I don't even know who the Head Boy is. Although I'm pretty sure it must be Remus or Benjy." Lily answered. Potter snorted. "Anything wrong, Potter?" Lily asked, and when he shook his head, turned to Black "Anyway did Remus mention anything about being Head Boy? Because he hasn't written to me or anything and I couldn't contact him either."_

"_No, absolutely nothing during the entire two weeks he came over to stay with us after we received our letters. That probably means he isn't the Head Boy this year. You know what, maybe Benjy isn't either. If he was we would have definitely heard from Janet."_

_Lily scoffed at Black's reply "Just because you both haven't heard it, doesn't mean it hasn't happened. I am pretty sure one of them is going to be the Head Boy. I bet it's Remus and he is just waiting for the right moment to tell you."_

"_Yeah right, he couldn't find the right moment in the last two weeks, entirely spent in the company of his best friends, to tell them that he is the Head Boy." Potter replied sarcastically._

_Lily knew he was right but she couldn't think of a more suitable candidate. She voiced her opinion "But he is the best candidate available. Who else could they choose?" Potter leaned forward in his seat "Don't you think you are a bit prejudiced to make a decision about that, since he is one of your close friends?"_

"_But, surely Potter, in that case you should back me up in my claim. He is one of your best friends as well."_

"_Exactly Evans. He is a marauder first. A Prefect next."_

"_Well, it must be Benjy then. But I am still not certain Remus isn't Head Boy. I am sure its going to be one of them. No doubt about it." Lily replied._

"_Sure enough to bet on it. Evans?" Potter asked. "I don't need to bet on it to prove that I am sure of my claim." she scoffed._

"_Well if you are so confident then no harm in placing a small bet, is there?" Sirius interjected. _

"_What will I get when I win?"_

"_If" Potter interrupted ._

"_Pardon?" she asked. "If you win Evans. If you win, I promise that we wont play any pranks until New Years."_

_Lily let out a sharp laugh and said "Careful what you bet Potter. Are you sure you can fore-go pranks for that long? Are you sure Black will forgive you for making him miss out on the pranks?" she asked as Black watched them bemusedly._

_Potter smirked "Worried about me, Evans?" "Not on your life Potter. Bring it on. I hope you don't mind losing."_

"_We'll see. Anyway, when I win, you've got to partner with me, when we have a group assignment for Potions." "If, Potter" Lily corrected, smirking. "We'll see." Potter answered arrogantly, and that was the end of their discussion about the bet._

_Lily spent the rest of the day with Potter and Black roaming around Diagon Alley, rather than sitting alone at Leaky Cauldron or Florean's or going back home. After all, the company of her housemates was far more favorable than spending the day alone. It was the first time she was talking to either of them outside Hogwarts, and the day was turning out to be far more enjoyable than she had anticipated. James and Sirius took her to the parts of Diagon Alley she hadn't been to, and she engaged them with details about Muggle appliances and Muggle customs, some of which they recognized from their Muggle Studies class_.

_The time flew by while she was with them and it was almost five in the evening when Lily announced she had to be home and the boys agreed with her. They walked back to the Leaky Cauldron, from where Lily apparated home, while James and Sirius flooed home._

"So I suppose after spending the whole day with them, they felt more like friends than the pranksters I, being the Gryffindor Prefect, had to admonish. You have no idea how much in need of company I was that day, and nor did they. Yet they willingly spent the day with me, disregarding the fact that all I did was badger them about pranks and reject James's date requests. After that it felt weird calling them 'Potter' and 'Black' even though I've been calling them that the past six years" Lily finished coming back to the present.

"I'm waiting for the day when we'll be assigned group projects this year in Potions. Imagine the fiasco when the Potions Prodigy works with one of the most abysmal Potions student the dungeons have ever seen" Janet burst out. Lily huffed "Don't remind me. We have somehow managed to avoid the topic the past two weeks. I just hope he wont mess up my grades in Potions." Emily scoffed "As if _you _could ever fail Potions, regardless of who your partner is."

Dorcas suddenly piped up "Wrap it up guys, its nearly curfew."

"Two Prefects and one Head Girl in the classroom and Dorcas is the one who remembers curfew" Janet said sardonically, but nonetheless shouldered her bag and stood up to leave along with the others.

Later that night after Dorcas went to sleep Lily set about patrolling alone, doing her routine sweep of the castle, but without James. Her mind really wasn't on the task as she went through the task. Just as she was about to abandon her rounds and head back to her dormitory she thought she saw a jet of green light near the Ravenclaw Tower. But when she went into the passageway she had seen the light coming from, Lily found the corridor empty. _Merlin I must really be exhausted if I am seeing things,_ she thought and went to bed, cutting short her patrols.

**A/N: **_I would appreciate it a lot, if you guys would tell me what you think of the chapter._


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: The characters, back ground story and anything else you recognize belongs to Rowling.**

James and Sirius arrived back to the castle on Sunday evening, just like Remus had told they would. Lily and Dorcas were sitting with Remus and Peter near the fire, when the Fat Lady swung open to reveal James and Sirius clambering inside. They made a beeline towards them as they looked around and spotted Lily and the others. The third years occupying the armchairs near her scuttled away as James and Sirius arrived. They plopped themselves on the recently vacated armchairs. Neither of them spoke. While James closed his eyes and leaned his head against the headrest, Sirius sat hunched over, his chin resting on his knuckles and looked around him wearily.

Dorcas broke the silence "I'm sorry, guys." Looking at Dorcas with one eye, James groaned "If I hear those three words once again, I might have to off myself." "Fair point, mate." Sirius agreed and his lips rose a fraction, in what might have been a smirk.

_Well,_ thought Lily,_ that leaves me in a dilemma, doesn't it_. She had been waiting with Dorcas and the boys, to see Potter and Black and maybe say something nice to them. Right now the only words running in her minds were 'I'm sorry'. And that didn't seem to be of much use now. "Well think about that decision again. Because you are going to hear that a lot the next few days." was what she finally said. Their lips rose in a halfhearted attempt at a smile. "Fair point, Lily." Sirius mumbled.

There was a beat of silence as everyone gazed at one another. Standing up to leave, Lily addressed James and Sirius "Well boys, take care and try not to be tardy at class tomorrow. If you want any notes about Friday's classes you can ask me. I've got to complete my homework. You coming Dorcas?" "No, you go on Lily. I wouldn't want to interrupt your homework. I'll see you in the dormitory." With a parting wave Lily made her way to a fairly less crowded area of the common room with her bag.

A little more than two hours later, she had still not made any progress with her Arithmancy homework from when she had come here at half past six. She glanced at the Marauders for what was probably the hundredth time in the the past two hours. Even from her spot in the corner of the common room Lily could see that none of them were so much as speaking a word. All of them sat huddled up near the fire and brooding. Perhaps they were slightly comforted by the solidarity of friendship, she thought. Lily had half a mind to join them. A couple of times she had even got up to make her way towards them, but decided against it in the last moment, because to her, it felt somewhat wrong.

It just felt like she would be intruding on their private moment. Yes, she was Dorcas best friend, and provided she was was quite close to Remus. But this was about James and Sirius to a greater extent. Lily wasn't sure they would want her to be a witness to their grief. Despite their brief stint of friendship in Diagon Alley she felt like an intruder into their group. The marauders were as thick as thieves after all, and Dorcas had been friends with the boys ever since third year when she had joined the Quidditch team. She was sure she ought not to disturb them.

But on the other hand she desperately wanted to ease off their pain. After all she owed it to them for keeping her company that day in August. And she had felt better that day, because of their company, hadn't she? But, Lily argued with herself, that day she didn't have the luxury of her best friends' company. If she had then she surely would not have wanted the boys to drop in on them, right? But the fact was, after working with James and talking to him and spending time in the normal sense with him properly in the past two weeks, she suddenly wasn't so sure. And right now she felt like an idiot staring at her classmates, torn between joining them and not wanting to trespass. Merlin! This was so confusing.

But then as she gazed back at them, she realized it was so silly of her to worry about how she felt and what she should do when there were others who had much more important things to worry about. She felt petty for fretting about such a small thing when she hadn't even suffered anything. Seriously it wasn't even a proper issue. Maybe she was simply over-analyzing the entire thing, Lily thought. Maybe she should take a walk or something to clear her mind

With that thought in her mind, Lily closed her books and walked out of the Common Room. She didn't want to go to the library, nor did she know the way to the fabled kitchens. Then, as she walked past a window and saw the lights from Hagrid's hut, she decided to pay him a visit. She hadn't spoken to him properly since the term began anyway. There was still about thirty minutes for curfew to begin, so she figured she would probably break curfew by the time she returned, but somehow she couldn't bring herself to care much for that at the moment. So she set off.

She met the occasional student on her way down who waved at her. Crouch, the fifth year Ravenclaw Prefect who she met in the entrance hall even called out to her "Cutting it a bit close to the curfew Lily?" She laughed "Well, seems to be the trend among prefects, tonight, doesn't it Barty?" He chuckled "See you at the next meeting." As he made his way to the Ravenclaw Tower, Lily pushed open the castle's door and made her way to the hut beside the Forest, whistling the Muggle tune she had picked up at home.

Halfway through the path she noticed a lone, somewhat familiar figure walking out of the forest. She altered her course to meet the boy who resembled his brother so much that, for a moment she thought it had been Sirius who walked out of the Forbidden Forest. It seemed he had noticed her too for his gait had slowed and once she neared him, she saw that he had a wary expression on his face. She quietly slid a hand inside her cloak and kept a grip on her wand. _Just in case, _she told herself, _one could never be too careful these days_.

"Black, fancy seeing you here. And at this time too."

"I could say the same Evans." he answered in a neutral tone. _He had a good point, _she thought_. _"But I'm not the one walking out of the forest. In case you hadn't noticed, its forbidden to all students." Lily said coolly. Regulus replied with deliberate disinterest "Well fine, dock points and get it over with Evans. Some of us have work to do.". Her temper rose. "Not so soon", she snapped "Explain what you have been doing in the Forbidden Forest and I'll let you go."

She sensed his facade slipping as he retorted agitatedly "I don't owe you an explanation Evans, so if you could just shove that – "

"You ought to watch your tongue, Black." she interrupted him coldly. He looked at her with mingled frustration and impatience. "And you ought to keep your your filthy nose out of others' business." he retorted and made to brush her off and walk away, but she grabbed his arm with surprising agility. He tore off his arm from her grip, dusting his cloak with his other hand. "Watch were you put that filthy hand of yours, you interfering Mudblood." he snarled as he dipped his hands inside his cloak to take his wand out.

In the flash that it took for him to point his wand at her she had already pointed her wand at him and disarmed him. She caught his wand with her free hand. Keeping her wand steadily pointed at his face, she spoke "Rule number one, don't underestimate your opponent. Especially if she is the Head Girl." Regulus's wary eyes were fixed on her hand. Just as she was deliberating whether she really ought to use magic on him, her wand, along with that of Black's flew out from her hands

Startled Lily turned around to see Severus a few step behind them. _Damn him_ she thought. _Damn him and his silent prowl_. " Good evening Lily. Rule number two, as Mad-Eye says, is to practice _Constant Vigilance._" Snape drawled. "Snape." she said curtly. He turned to Regulus and threw his wand at him and said " Go back to the Common Room. I'll deal with her."

She could feel the blood pooling beneath her cheeks as he spoke."Where do you think you are sending him," she began furiously "You have no authority – " Snape cut across her, sneering "I don't think you are in a position to give orders Evans. Need I remind you that it is you who is wand-less against two armed students, both from Slytherin, a house with which you have always been at odds with." Lily glared at him. As fury and anger raced through her veins she wanted to do something, anything really, to make him look less like a vampire and more like her friend. And right now hitting him across the face seemed like a very appealing action. At least a black eye and some bruises would bring a little color to his face. But she resisted.

Instead, she stuck out a foot just as Black walked past her. He tripped and stumbled to the ground. Black swore aloud before helping himself up. He lifted his arm to point his wand at her but stopped as Snape placed a hand over his arm and give him a hard look. Regulus threw her one last dirty look before he turned around and walked away towards the castle.

Snape turned to her and sighed "You ought to keep yourself out of trouble Lily, especially during these difficult times." Lily gazed at him impassively before saying "Well your lot seems to have a lot of advice to give out today. Telling me what I ought to and ought not to do. But as you might have already noticed I'm not keen on listening to people intent on hating filthy muggleborns." Snape's eyes narrowed. He replied quietly "I don't hate you. You know that." She scoffed "Fat lot of good it will do, your confession will. Especially if you continue killing '_Mudbloods_'."

Snape flinched at the word "Look Lily –"

"No, _you_ look Severus. I don't want to look, nor do I want to listen to anything you have to say. Just give me back my wand and let me go." His expression changed. His chalky white face hardened. He sneered at her. "You expect me to act like your friend and give you back your wand when you wont even talk to me." A flash of regret crossed his eyes as her face remained impassively cold. But his ugly sneer remained firmly in place reminding her why, they'd grown apart, even before the O. . "Fine Lily. Have it your way then. Don't listen to me now. You are going to regret it later, but don't say I didn't try to warn you. I'll see you around, or not." he snarled throwing her wand back to her. Then he turned on his heel and stalked off without a backward glance, his cloak billowing around him.

Lily glowered at his back until his figure disappeared into the castle. She glanced at her watch. It was ten minutes to curfew. She knew she should go back to the castle if she wanted to avoid punishment from Filch or any other professor. But at the moment a nice long chat with Hagrid seemed more appealing to her, than going back to the castle and undoubtedly either go back to sleep or talk to to Dorcas about the now over breached topic of Mr Potter's death.

Standing on the steps she only had to knock twice before the door swung open and Hagrid moved sideways to let her inside. "Hiya Lily. How are yer? Haven't seen you since term began. Busy schedule, eh? Tea?" he asked as they both sat. "No thanks, Hagrid. Well its not anything I didn't expect. What with the N.E. and all. How have you been? Found any new pet?" "I'm fine. I tried to persuade Professor Kettleburn to procure some Occamies. Apparently one of his friends is an international dealer in magical creatures. He's currently in India where these animals are found. But the Professor seems a bit reluctant. Says he doesn't know what use it could be as the students don't need a practical demonstration of them animals. He reckons nifflers would be a better choice. I would have liked one, but well." Lily suppressed a sigh before asking, "But Hagrid, aren't Occamies supposed to be really aggressive?"

"Not really. They might take a swipe at ye if you 'approach their eggs, but they're not the bad sort. They don't feed on humans, so its not like they'll do any harm." Lily had to disguise a snort. _I bet they don't have a problem in ripping off any limbs though_, she thought. But she had learned long ago that it was useless trying to make Hagrid see beasts from the proper perspective. Instead she just said "Well, too bad you couldn't get them. You would have probably looked after them better than Kettleburn." Hagrid beamed at her and then changed topics. "When I opened the door I was a bit surprised. I thought it might be James or Sirius. They are usually the ones who visit after curfew. Poor lads, both of them. I heard about their dad." She squirmed. Confused as she was about James, the topic was one she wanted to avoid the most. After the conversation with the girls, she had been careful to avoid discussing him with anyone. Lily now felt as though, everyone would judge her if she showed any positive inclination towards him, after years of berating him She doubted Hagrid would pick up on anything but it still made her uncomfortable to think about them sitting in the Common Room while she had left them to it.

Steering the topic to her N.E. , teachers and magical creatures, she stayed for about an hour and half before she glanced at her watch and saw it was nearly eleven and it would probably be half past eleven by the time she maneuvered her way to the castle and into her dormitory. Abruptly cutting off Hagrid who was halfway through his stories about the Yeti, she announced she had to go or Filch or McGonagall would have her head if she was caught out any later. "Yer probably right. Filthy caretaker would make you scrub the entire trophy room. Run. Best make sure you don't get get caught." "Yeah. Bye Hagrid." "See ya" he waved before closing the door behind her.

It was easy to get into the castle, because thankfully for Lily the door had clicked opened with a simple _Alohomora. _Locking the doors back, Lily walked softly, trying to prevent her footsteps from echoing. She had just reached the seventh floor corridor, and was about to turn towards the Tower when Lily heard Filch muttering, steadily approaching her from towards the Gryffindor Tower. _Damn _she thought as she looked around for a broom cupboard. Spotting one on the other side Lily opened the door and slipped inside. Knowing a simple locking charm would be of no use if Filch had a set of keys, Lily muttered a locking charm and locked the door shut. For good measure she even sealed off the keyhole silently.

She heaved a sigh hoping he would not investigate the cupboard. As she moved towards the back of the cupboard, her feet stepped on something suspiciously like a human foot. _It most certainly wasn't a couple_ Lily reasoned thankfully, but it was difficult for her to see who her companion was. The other person had most certainly seen her get inside, and now there was a quick movement in the dark as a hand clamped shut on her mouth and she felt a breath brush the top of her hair. The hand was full quite rough and large, littered with callouses. Probably a Quidditch player. She understood why the other person had closed her mouth as she heard the approaching steps of Filch. Sorely wanting to bite the hand on her mouth, Lily resisted as she heard Filch outside the cupboard, knowing their yelp of pain would compromise their location. She figured she would rather avoid being caught by Filch, she could deal with her companion later. A set of keys seemed to dangle as Filch tried a key in the lock. The door did not open, as she knew would happen. She and her silent companion were both holding their breath. Lily hoped Filch would think he had lost the key and not go for a Professor. Or at least if he did, he wouldn't find one any soon. She heard a muffled curse from the other side of the door, as another key failed to open the door. Lily waited with bated breath for the caretaker to get on with it. As she leaned against as wall of the cupboard waiting for Filch to go away, an explosion from below startled her, and her companion.

The keyhole stopped fidgeting, another muffled swear was uttered, and then she heard footsteps leading away from the broom cupboard. She practically sagged with relief she the sound of footsteps grew faint. Noticing that the hand was still clamped across her mouth, Lily bit into the flesh, hard. The hand withdrew surprisingly fast and there was a yelp and an uttered oath. "Merlin, Evans. You've got quite a set of teeth."

_Merlin and Morgana,_ she thought,_ did she need this tonight, of all the nights? _"James?" she asked flatly. "Yeah. What are you doing out at this time of the night? Quick thinking, locking the door. I had forgotten about." Lily smirked, "I was out visiting Hagrid and we got caught up talking. What about you?" "I wasn't able to sleep, because" he hesitated slightly before saying "Well, you know, I just wasn't able to sleep. So I thought I would go to the kitchens." A thought suddenly seemed to strike him, as he said "Er, Lily, not that I mind being locked up inside a broom cupboard with you, but I think we should probably get going before Filch decided to come back." Lily felt her cheeks redden "Right," she muttered and with another charm, unlocked the door, and they both stumbled out of the dark cupboard into the unlit corridors.

Straightening up, they set off in the direction of the Tower. After a few seconds she asked "So you couldn't sleep, huh?" He scratched his neck, and said "Um, yeah, I mean Sirius was snoring too loudly, Peter was mumbling in his sleep and the moon was shining a little too brightly through the window and I cant sleep unless it is completely dark –" "Potter," she interrupted his rambling sharply, before continuing a little softly "you are rambling, so if we could just get to the point." He exhaled loudly, before resolutely looking ahead silently. After a moment, however, in a low voice he said "And I was thinking about dad."

Lily hesitated slightly before asking him "Do you want to talk about it?" James let out a bitter laugh "No, I don't. Do you know that is one of the most idiotic questions invented in the history of mankind. They are all going on about how sorry they are for me and how it gets well with time and what a good man he had been. I know they mean it, alright, I know it. But , fuck, its so hard listening to them! Its so irritating listening to them, trying to console me, acting as though I am a vulnerable china doll, that's going to break any moment. And do you know what is even worse? My bloody relatives and all those people at the service, giving me awful looks like they are judging me for not shedding a single tear for my father at his funeral. Do you know how fucking irritating that is, Evans? Even here, from the moment I stepped into the castle every bloody student is giving me the look. I cant even have a moment of peace with the boys, without being bombarded by every effing Gryffindor in the tower, who knocks on the dormitory, while I am trying to talk to Sirius and the boys. Merlin knows that I _know_, I bloody fucking well know, that I am supposed to appreciate their support and sympathy. But by Merlin, do I hate it. Hate it so much, when all I want to do is have a slice of normality with my friends and want to get over it, but they keep reminding me of it. Do I want to talk about all of that? No I don't. Not at all.", he huffed.

"You really didn't cry at the funeral?" she asked. His reply was curt "No" He opened his mouth, probably to elaborate a little more, but they had already reached the Fat Lady, so he just closed his mouth once again. "Peppermint" she said to a disapproving guardian and both of them clambered inside. "Good night, Evans" he muttered, "I'll see you tomorrow." and turned towards the boys' stairwell.

Lily watched his back, and reluctantly called out to him "James?" He froze for an instant near the stairwell, before turning back to her and looked at her questioningly. She hesitated. He raised an eyebrow at her as she said nothing after a moment. Swallowing nervously, she softly said "If you need anything, Just ask me. I'll be there." He blinked, and Lily bit her lip at his reaction, or lack of it, precisely, hoping he didn't think it was too cheesy of her. Then slowly he gave her a small, genuine smile, which Lily thought, was just enough for her at the moment. She returned his smile and bade him a good night before turning around and disappearing into the Girls' stairwell.

She went into her dormitory, past the other girls, almost all of whom were sleeping, and to the bed beside Dorcas's. Dorcas was sitting against the headboard, with the Witch Weekly in her hand. She looked up when Lily came and sat on her bed and scuttled to the side to make space for her. "Where have you been?" Dorcas asked. "I was over at Hagrid's. Ran into Snape and Black on the way. Right bunch of gits, both of them. Pulled wands on me." she replied off–offhandedly. Still turning the pages of her magazine Dorcas said " You didn't curse either of them, I hope."

"No, I didn't." Lily conceded. "What did they want anyway? Snape has never pulled a wand on you before. Its always been a verbal spat between you both." Dorcas asked. "Well, he just disarmed me." she confessed. "And left you at the most vulnerable position Lily. Its better to have a curse cast on you, while having your wand than be wand-less and not have been cursed, yet." Dorcas replied. Lily silently agreed, nodding her head distractedly. Then she asked Dorcas "Dorcas do you really think me building a friendship with James is so weird, that everyone will judge me or question me about it?" Dorcas seemed surprised by the abrupt change of topic, but nonetheless answered "Lily, do you remember in the first four years at Hogwarts, when you were friends with each other?" Taking her nod for confirmation Dorcas continued "I know it was because you were friends with Remus, and you were never really close to him but you used to have those friendly banters, we used to have the occasional meal together and he teased you a bit and made fun of Snape sometimes while you told him off for doing it. So wont this time around be the same?" Lily shook her head, "But Dorcas, that was before so many things happened. Before he started asking me out every other day. Before he stepped up from making fun of Severus in front of me to criticizing him. Before the entire Lake Incident happened. So doesn't that change things."

"Maybe it does. But doesn't it depend on you how you perceive those changes. You could let bygones be bygones and not let it affect your slowly growing friendship. Or you could be affected and afraid of the changes and stop yourself from making a new friend. Look Lily, when we asked you about how you were friendlier with James this year, it was only because we were confused. We noticed because we are your best friends. We didn't mean to make you conscious about it. You wouldn't have questioned yourself if we hadn't questioned you. You might have thought about it, but you wouldn't have had doubts. We have always hung around with the Marauders, whether it was with the entire group or individually, so people wont really notice the change that much. Don't fret about it. You over think every decision of yours. If you want to be friends with James, go ahead, if you don't then don't let anyone tell you to do otherwise."

Lily chewed on her lip, thinking maybe Dorcas was right. She did have a tendency to over analyze things. Maybe she should just let things run their course, without questioning every move and every change. "You are right. You know I've actually always liked Potter, its just that sometimes his arrogance and pigheadedness made my temper soar heights, and Severus never really discouraged my temper regarding him." "And that is exactly why my dear Flower, you should listen to Lady Dorcas here more often." Lily shoved her playfully. "Remind me once again, who exactly had the fantastic idea of bringing Drooble's _Invisible-once-you-start-chewing _Bubble Gums?"

Dorcas scoffed "That Lily dearest, was one of the best moments of your life, don't deny it. Seeing Petunia float around, while she was hysterically screaming for you to put her down was the most hilarious things I've ever seen." "Yes," Lily agreed "But that was also the time we almost breached International Statute Of Secrecy because the neighbors started knocking on our door." "Well, we managed to bring her back to normal, before anyone caught wind, didn't we." Lily laughed "She still hasn't forgiven me for that, even though it was you who did it. Sometimes I think James and Sirius have a lot of influence over you" "Admit it Lily, she would still have been nasty to you if I hadn't pulled that prank. You deserve some comeback, don't you? And after all what are best friends for, if not to take thee fall for each other."

"Right," said Lily as Dorcas yawned and said "I think I'll go to bed." Thinking it was high-time she too got to bed, if she wanted to wake up on time the next day, Lily stood up. Moving to her own bed Lily bade Dorcas a goodnight and shut her hangings, before falling asleep.


End file.
